ICJ rules Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories “illegal”

Photo: Remko de Waal Archives/ANP via Agence France-Presse The opinion issued by the ICJ, which sits in The Hague, is not binding but could increase growing international legal pressure on Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip.

France Media Agency in The Hague

Published yesterday at 10:41 a.m. Updated yesterday at 8:05 p.m.

• Middle East

The highest court of the UN ruled on Friday that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories since 1967 was “illegal” and that it must end “as quickly as possible”, a decision described as “historical” by the Palestinians and “false” by Israel.

Around fifty States testified in this unprecedented affair. The opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which sits in The Hague, is not binding but could increase the growing international legal pressure on Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip.

On December 31, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution requesting an “advisory opinion” from the ICJ on the “legal consequences arising from Israel’s policies and practices in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, including Jerusalem- East.”

This concerns the “prolonged occupation” of Palestinian territories since 1967.

Friday, ” the Court found that the continued presence of Israel in the Palestinian Territories was illegal,” announced the presiding judge of the International Court of Justice, Nawaf Salam.

“L “The State of Israel has an obligation to end its illegal presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as quickly as possible,” he continued.

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The ICJ added that Israel was “obligated to immediately cease all further settlement activities and evacuate all settlers” from occupied lands.

“Historical” or “untruthful”

A “historic” opinion, reacted the presidency of the Palestinian Authority.

This decision constitutes “a victory”, she welcomed in a press release, asking Israel to “end the occupation” and the “settlements”.

< p>“It’s a great day for Palestine,” Varsen Aghabekian Chahine, the Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, commented to AFP.

< p>This is a “deceitful decision,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Jews are not occupiers on their own land,” he insisted. “No false decision in The Hague can distort the historical truth” and “the legality of Israeli settlements” cannot “be contested”.

In June 1967, during the Six Day War, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, the Golan Heights from Syria, as well as the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula to the detriment of Egypt.

Israel then began occupying the 70,000 square kilometers of seized Arab territory, an occupation later described as illegal by the United Nations.

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“Extreme danger”

Most speakers called during hearings in February for Israel to end the occupation that followed the Six-Day War, and some warned that prolonged occupation poses “extreme danger.” stability in the Middle East and beyond.

South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands told the judges that Israel's policies in the Palestinian territories were an “even more extreme” form of the apartheid that South Africa experienced before 1994.

But Washington defended its ally, saying Israel should not be legally obligated to withdraw without taking into account its “very real security needs.”

Israel is not participating in the hearings but submitted a written submission calling the questions posed to the ICJ “prejudicial” and “tendentious”.

These hearings are separate from a case brought to the International Court of Justice by South Africa, which accuses Israel of committing genocidal acts in the Gaza Strip.

In January, the Court called on this country to avoid any possible act of genocide in this small Palestinian territory. In May, she ordered Israel to stop its military offensive in Rafah.